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Just a couple of weeks ago at the beginning of February a conference was held in Queensland that if not for the impact of floods and cyclones, may have stirred the breezes of another storm entirely.The conference was called to begin putting in place in Australia structures to assist those Anglicans who wish to move to the embrace of the Church of Rome, not as individual converts, but as groups of worshippers still able to preserve certain aspects of their Anglican tradition. The catalyst was an announcement by Pope Benedict in Nov 2009, that the Catholic Church would be establishing structures to welcome dissaffected Anglicans, many of whom were unsettled by decisions regarding the ordination of women and gays, particularly that they might attain Episcopal authority as Bishops.

The timing of the announcement caught many Anglicans off guard, apparently disrupting years of quiet diplomacy by the joint Anglican Roman Catholic dialogue committee, ARCIC, and coming just before a visit to Rome by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Some saw it as a deliberate snub and humiliation. Following the Rome visit, the Archbishop of Canterbury, joined the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster in a joint announcement, that appeared to paper over the cracks

Such a move in Australia is not without significance on the wider world stage. The Primate or world leader of one of the principal groups wishing to move from the authority of Canterbury to that of Rome, The Traditional Anglican Communion, is Archbishop John Hepworth an Australian, based in Adelaide.

Bishop Peter Elliot, a former Anglican and now an auxiliary Catholic bishop in Melbourne, announced at the end of November 2010 that he was hopeful of establishing a local structure by Easter this year. In pursuit of that goal, an Australian Ordinariate Committee was formed in December, and the national gathering met in Queensland just a couple of weeks ago. Bishop Peter is also Australian delegate to the principal Vatican doctrinal body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith.

Whilst the number of Anglicans in large cities wishing to move to Rome maybe small, and the barriers to individual parishes may prove insurmountable, there is one entire diocese in play, and that is in the North of Australia, where for some years there has been tension in the Torres Strait and surrounding comunities within the Anglican church and growing support for Rome.

Our panel includes Bishop Peter Elliot of the Catholic Church, and Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, and two continuing Anglicans: Fr Jim Minchin of St.Kilda, and on the telephone well-known Anglican, author and journalist, Dr Muriel Porter.

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